snake

snake in a box
picture of coiled contentment

mindful
ambush predator
haemo- and neurotoxic

totally at peace
Zen moment
or so it
would seem

but no
finer out the box thinker
better escapologist
than this
      sleepy lightning
rod clan

this
   in reality
alike
in
mythology

shedding its lifetime
of skins faster
than
you
change your clothes
shed outworn soul’s

snakes here in abundance
though I do not
cannot yet see them

coiled around my limbs, my
heart, neck,
wrists ankles

no snake eyes as such
but certainly snake mind

TAIPAN

I do hope
these feeble offerings

meet expectations
blend in with perceptions

fit the ruling algorithm
work wonders in the wash
with
every colonial.mindset
under the Sun,
the skin-cancer Sun
likely to play havoc
with the
shade of our species

need to hit this one
not just out
of the park
but across the entire outback
(mustn’t
come boomeranging back
in any size shape or form)

or return
with that sour vomit reflux
that you
people antipodean
have just way too
many synonyms for

and so
as you see by my references
and appendix certification

I have not only
chosen wisely and well
but have measured every
word, graphene,
syllable using
precise laser alignment
and most exact
of micrometers

have filtered via pipette
to withhold any residue

what is left
should be
immune to distaste,
inoculated against deep scrutiny

unless somewhere in
the nature of the whole toxic
chemistry
produced a venom more
troublesome than
that of
the inland taipan itself
.

SNAKE

I am snake
always
curled up
somewhere

reading
William Blake

sticking out
my tongue at you
— no disrespect!
only to
taste
what your molecules
say
what they
wish to do

we can slip past, evade
each other,
not a problem, perfect
solution

unless
you set on gleaning
a smidgen of
my wisdom

wish
to dance; wish to talk

MORTAL COIL

ANACONDA

reconnoitre
my anaconda

see what proclivity for
algebra

her evil eye
able to solve for the
lengthiest equations

serpentine mind slithering
axiomatically

perfect physique for
quadrilateral equations
pure Amazonian
when
calculus calls

not at all flummoxed
if the ground
should be shifting

Kurt Godel’s theme
of incompleteness
her piece of cake

and if
using her body to
define new systems of geometry
topology

no lever needed
to make her cosmos move

ANACONDA

was trying

to rhyme
my anaconda

get it
to do tricks and
every
perform sundry
to maundry

put on fool bells
and smirk-clown greasepaint
in vain
in vanity

and me a snake too
as Taoism sees it

think would get him
her to shapeshift, budge
yellow green yellow-green
yellow

limit to the spectrum
archetype notwithstanding

(no bend in this landscape
states of curvature only)

will
tell if it feels the same
when tunneling inside

TONGUE TALK

I flick out my tongue
to test the air for you

drink
your scent

rattle
appreciation

no
threat display

though lately
I have been told
I am
indeed venomous
potent neurotoxic

am thinking that
the glory of my dance
and the
beauty
of my coils
sly sophistication
of my
pattern

will
win you round

WATER MOCCASIN

I waa thinking
of a dream poem
about a new
dream body

when all of a sudden
a mud-coloured water moccasin
broke through the surface
of my flow
alerting me to
the inescapable nature of entropy
and the primeval structure
of my being

and here the skunk odours
of this approaching viper
alerted me
at once to the dingy, tawdry, drab
undercurrents
of all life

and so
I sensed it best to put
all dream-minded thoughts
on hold, let
them back burn for
the night

water mocassin gliding
effortlessly by
not as ornery a reptile
as is
the reputation.

SHOSHONE

SHOSHONE

you were so in
need of the fruit
from the tree of antithesis

when I came upon you
arrived on the scene
slithered amongst you
rattling my
tail off to wake
you up

not much hope there
popping gobstopper-sized
pills to kill
your anxiety

already
you can see what
it has done to
your internal rhyme

scheme and system
pretty much shot to Hell

last to say this, for
obvious reasons, but
right now,
      at this juncture, need
to stand
outside yourself, commit
to alterity, flick
         switch to at least
semi-
    Slavoj

dialectic might be just
a pipe dream
   but what better
pipe
    conduit to great
spirit do we
full Shoshone have?

NO EASY MEASURE

NO EASY MEASURE

there are many ways
to start a poem
maybe an image, a theme
a rhythm
bouncing
around in your head
snake-like
rasp of word

many ways too,
to enter a poem
linear or
non-linear
syntactic
or symbolic

feeling your way
set to full tactile

or up
for helicopter shot
to view
as mosaic
put
everything
in perspective

then
fill in the detail
induced, deduced
seduced
at your pleasure

although
linger on
this thought
if you will, let us dissect
this
dark treasure

only
fair to point out,

to leave a poem, however,
(speaking
of seduction)
is no
easy measure

here is the poem
here is we are
unexpectedly
together

not so many ways down
from that height
this height,
routes
out of the labyrinth
this
labyrinth

safe and
without cost

hardly enough
to count on the
fingers
of one hand

so many surrendered
to the poem, dissolved,
got
absorbed by
poetry

something about
the beauty
of this python still
to comprehend

as it
closes the circle
you now mine forever